Kidney Week: ‘Act now’ on advancements in kidney disease
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Nephrology News & Issues interviewed Susan E. Quaggin, MD, FASN, president of the American Society of Nephrology, on what attendees can expect during the all-virtual Kidney Week, which takes place Nov. 2 through Nov. 7.
For information on registration and the program, visit www.asn-online.org/education/kidneyweek.
Nephrology News & Issues: ASN is going to an all-virtual format for Kidney Week. What factors led to this decision?
Quaggin: The ASN Kidney Week Committee and education team had planned for a hybrid meeting, as well as the possibility of a fully virtual Kidney Week 2021. Throughout the planning process, the safety and wellbeing of all participants was a top priority.
While we are all disappointed not to have the opportunity to see old and new friends and colleagues in person, several key points made the decision straightforward:
- the delta COVID-19 variant that is causing a fourth wave of infection in the United States and many other counties;
- there are U.S. travel restrictions for many countries;
Kidney Week is a celebration of the best advances in kidney science and clinical practice from around the world; a meeting without our international partners on site would have created inequities. Virtually, everyone can join now;
- a number of institutions have placed travel restrictions on faculty;
- we shared the concerns of many of our members regarding unvaccinated children; and
- without a full roster of in-person educational content and experts, participants would not receive the full advantage of an on-site meeting.
Nephrology News & Issues: Is there a particular focus for Kidney Week this year?
Quaggin: The theme is “Time to act.”
Throughout the past year, incredible advances and opportunities for the field of kidney medicine have emerged. The time to act on these opportunities is now.
This year’s Kidney Week will leverage these amazing opportunities and challenge every member of our community and beyond to take up the charge to transform kidney health and improve the lives of the more than 850 million people worldwide living with kidney diseases.
ASN is also launching a bold media campaign on We’re United 4 Kidney Health, an initiative, designed to educate nephrologists, kidney health professionals and scientists about the dramatic changes and promising advancements taking place in kidney care, research and education.
During Kidney Week 2021, ASN will introduce the four key priorities of the campaign and share real-world examples and stories of how individual kidney health professionals and scientists are making progress across these areas. A panel of prominent nephrologists will exchange insights on how to develop and incorporate strategies to evolve practices and behaviors to advance the campaign’s priorities and create a world without kidney diseases.
Nephrology News & Issues: The opening session includes a review of COVID-19 with national panelists. Does it suggest that the impact of the coronavirus on kidney disease is getting more national attention?
Quaggin: A resounding yes. Throughout the pandemic, kidney diseases have been front and center; patients living with kidney diseases were at higher risk of severe disease; transplant and dialysis patients are relatively immunosuppressed and require special consideration for vaccination.
We saw acute (de novo) kidney failure in about 24% to 57% of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and in as many as 78% of patients admitted to the intensive care unit, and during the initial surge of COVID-19, shortages of kidney replacement therapy and dialysis supplies and expertise received as much attention as shortages of personal protective equipment and ventilators.
In complications among COVID-19 long haulers, we saw a predicted “tsunami” of accelerated chronic kidney disease similar to cardiovascular disease. Importantly, we saw disparities, so apparent during the pandemic, entrenched in an individual’s risk of developing kidney disease.
We are thrilled to offer an inaugural National Academy of Medicine - American Society of Nephrology joint opening plenary session with global experts to raise awareness of the impact of COVID-19 on our patients and the importance of kidney diseases worldwide. We hope this will be the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership with the National Academy of Medicine.
Nephrology News & Issues: We have had some hits and misses this year on FDA approvals for drugs that could benefit kidney patients. Are you discouraged by that?
Quaggin: Just the opposite. In the past few years, we have seen some of the most groundbreaking trials reported and approvals for new kidney-targeted therapies that hold promise to change the trajectory of kidney disease in millions of patients worldwide, including SGLT2 inhibitors and nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid agonists. Indeed, in 2020, one of the SGLT2 inhibitors received breakthrough status from the FDA to accelerate its approval for patients. This is the first-time breakthrough status provided for a drug to treat patients with CKD to slow progression.
Nephrology News & Issues: There are a number of sessions on inequities in kidney care. Is this an issue that can be resolved?
Quaggin: The push to remove race from clinical algorithms, including kidney estimating equations, began with the future generation of nephrologists and physicians: the medical students.
I am thrilled and encouraged by the commitment and passion trainees across the country and world have demonstrated to promote health justice. The NKF-ASN joint task force will present its final recommendations for a new equation that does not include race during Kidney Week 2021. It is important to recognize that this is an important - but only the first - step in addressing inequity and moving toward true health justice and eliminating disparities.
There is more work to be done, and I am hopeful that trainees and faculty alike will remain just as engaged.
Nephrology News & Issues: Do you have any concluding thoughts on this year’s program?
Quaggin: We will announce the inaugural recipient of the Barbara T. Murphy Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as an endowed named lectureship in Dr. Murphy’s name, jointly sponsored by ASN and the American Society of Transplantation (AST). The award and lectureship will honor the legacy of Dr. Murphy, who was president-elect of ASN and a past president of AST when she passed away on June 30. She was an internationally recognized leader in transplant medicine, nephrology and research, and a beloved mentor of many current and future stars in our field.
Throughout her career, she was a staunch and successful advocate for advancing protocols to transplant patients with HIV and for ending Medicare’s 3-year limit on immunosuppressive drug coverage for kidney transplant recipients. Her passing was a huge loss for the entire community.
- For more information:
- Susan E. Quaggin, MD, FASN, is the Charles Horace Mayo Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University and chief of nephrology/hypertension and director of the Feinberg Cardiovascular and Renal Research Institute.